Favorite Teams

Spring break teaches tolerance, understanding

College students’ cross-cultural week of service benefits clients of Project Hospitality, but also themselves

Husnah Khan, 22, left, and Jenna Weinberg, 21, students from the University of Michigan, volunteer at Project Hospitality during their spring break.
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE/TEVAH PLATTSTATEN ISLAND, NY – STAPLETON — A group of Muslim and Jewish students from the University of Michigan spent their spring break last week volunteering together at Project Hospitality.

Members of the Ann Arbor campus’ MuJew group – 18 students and two staff members split evenly by faith – camped out at the First United Methodist Church in Port Richmond and spent four days distributing clothes and food to the needy on Staten Island’s North and East shores.

They devoted part of their trip to practicing and observing rituals of both religions, including the Muslim Jumu’ah prayer held Friday in Brooklyn, and Shabbat ceremonies conducted Saturday on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. They worked in Port Richmond, Stapleton and St. George, staffing the Project Hospitality food pantry, unpacking a truck loaded with food, preparing meals, serving lunches at the soup kitchen, distributing clothes and listening to stories from Project Hospitality clients with HIV.

“I think both Judaism and Islam focus on helping others, and it was relieving to find so many students would be interested in spending a spring break devoted to service instead of going to Cancun,” said Husnah Khan, a 22-year-old English major who organizes year-round MuJew activities at the University of Michigan. “I’ve learned that despite our differences, we’re all compassionate people who want to effect change in the world, and you can start to effect change in the world by doing things like this to help others.”

The idea behind the collaboration is three-fold, said Rabbi Nathan Martin, assistant director of University of Michigan Hillel: The students find common ground by connecting through service; they support one another in being the best Muslims and Jews they can be, and bring a positive model of cooperation back to campus, demonstrating that Muslims and Jews can work together. They inspire other groups to do the same.

“I grew up in a very Jewish community and only had Jewish friends growing up,” said Jenna Weinberg, 21. “It was implied in my community that Islam was something I should fear.”

Volunteering in Israel with a basketball program that united Arab and Israeli children led Ms. Weinberg to realize she “had been given an impression of Islam that was based on no knowledge.”

This third annual MuJew trip, which began in Michigan with meetings held over 10 weeks, gave her and her cohort the opportunity to learn about each other’s religions on safe, neutral ground.

“One girl on the trip had a stone she put in front of her to pray,” Ms. Weinberg said. “I thought it was to prevent her from putting her head on the ground, but actually it was based on a tradition of connecting yourself to the earth. I wouldn’t have known that without asking questions.”

“To be honest the impression of Islam today is largely negative in the general public,” said Amjad Tarsin, a MuJew staffer who called himself Rabbi Nathan’s Muslim counterpart. “A small minority has misrepresented a billion-and-a-half people worldwide, so it’s incumbent on people of sound understanding to promote peace, love and mercy, and that’s why it’s important to me to take part in this noble effort.”

Ms. Diallo was raised in the Jewish faith and married a Muslim from West Africa’s Republic of Guinea.

“When I was told we were having a group of Muslims and Jews, I wanted to cry, because all I thought about was the crisis going on in the Middle East,” she said. “. . .To see unity between these religions, two separate ways of life coming together for the purpose of serving the people, it’s just awesome. It’s amazing. I can’t stop talking about them. I wish the world could see them.”

The MuJew group came to Staten Island through Project Hospitality’s Faith in Action program, which provides food, shelter, workshops and volunteer activities to teams interested in devoting a day, weekend or week to community service.

“In both Islam and Judaism, there is an emphasis on feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, but we are lucky. We eat every day in the cafeteria and don’t think about issues like hunger and poverty on a daily basis,” said Ms. Khan. “We’re really fortunate for the chance to have glimpsed this life, and it’s unfortunate that it’s been only a week because we’d have liked to stay to help.”

Tevah Platt is a news reporter for the Advance. She may be reached at platt@siadvance.com.